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Italy - Solidarity in aftermath of major earthquake

​In May 2012 the region around our plant in Camposanto sul Panaro, close to Bologna and Modena in Italy, was struck by two earthquakes measuring 6.0 and 5.8 on the Richter scale.

Many people died or were injured. Churches, factories and houses collapsed, leaving 14,000 people homeless.To provide immediate help to those colleagues who suffered damage to their homes, Smurfit Kappa Italy organised a fund-raising campaign.

A man looks at a collapsed farm in Camposanto, northern Italy, Tuesday, May 29, 2012.

A total of €157,000 was raised for Smurfit Kappa employees who were victims of the earthquake. This sum was achieved through an initial donation by Smurfit Kappa’s 1,300 Italian employees of around €60 each.

The total employee donation was then doubled by Smurfit Kappa. Two-thirds of the total sum was divided among 15 colleagues who had suffered major damage to their homes.

Local authorities had prepared “safe/unsafe declarations” for the houses in the area, and these provided objective criteria for the fully transparent process of deciding where the funds were most needed. The remaining one-third of the money was granted to 46 employees whose homes had suffered minor damage.